Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar

Lunch #1 at Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar

So let’s begin this review with a few pictures.

As you can hopefully see from our pictures, Tutto Gusto has a very rustic look, with stone walls and flooring, brick archways, and a wood-beam ceiling.
It reminded me of some of the places I went to in Italy and I think looks much more authentic than Tutto Italia next door.

The beautiful wood bar is the centerpiece of the room.

The “wine bottle” lighting over the bar is quite unique, don’t you think?

The refrigerated cases on the back wall hold the more than 200 different wines offered at Tutto Gusto.

And the case which holds all the yummy food.

And speaking of food, here is a picture of most of the menu from which we ordered.

Tutto Gusto Menu as of May 24, 2012

I told the girls that we could each choose a meat and a cheese, so we would get a plate of 3 cheeses and a plate of 3 meats. These were each to be $14, according to the price listed on the menu. However, in looking at my receipt now, I see that we were charged $15 for each plate. So just a little more than three weeks after opening, Tutto Gusto had already increased their prices.

So first up is our meat plate.

Selection of three cured meats served with focaccia bread slices – $15

We chose (pictured from bottom to top): Prosciutto di Parma (dry-cured thinly sliced ham), Cacciatorini (combination of cured beef and pork salami seasoned with black pepper, garlic, and dry wine), and Salametto (small slices of dry, slightly spicy pork salami). And for the record, my choice was the Cacciatorini and it was my favorite of the three.

Selection of three Italian cheeses served with focaccia bread slices – $15
(Cheese Plate #7 of the trip)

For our 3 cheeses we chose (pictured from bottom to top): Robiola (a tangy cheese with a fruity finish made from cow’s, goat’s, and sheep’s milk), Parmigiano Reggiano (a hard, cow’s milk cheese which is both salty and sweet), and Fontina (a semi-firm, cow’s milk cheese). I chose the Robiola and again this one was my favorite. I should also add that I believe our good, but average ratings of the meat and cheese plates were a result of our comparing them to the 6 previous cheese plates that we had had on this trip. That and maybe their $15 price tag.

Now I had originally intended to quit there, with just the meats and cheeses as an appetizer before our real lunch at Via Napoli. But then we spotted this in the Cavatappi section of the menu and couldn’t resist.

Now I must admit that $15 is a rather high price to pay for a small plate of pasta. However, this pasta was soooo very good and unanimously voted the best Italian dish of the trip. And in comparing it to a similarly priced pasta dish (1/2 order of Manicotti for $14) from Il Mulino, we thought this was most definitely the winner both in terms of quantity and quality.

Of course we also had some Italian wine at the Tutto Gusto wine bar. Now the wine menu was way too large to take pictures of the entire book, so here is a picture showing the white wine which I chose, #142 Trebbiano d’Abruzzo.

Now I would like to share with all of you why I chose the Trebbiano. You see, during our trip to Italy three years ago we spent one week in the Abruzzo region where my grandparents were from. My first (and only other) time having this wine was drinking it from a plastic cup while sitting in a Trabocco (an old fishing hut/platform on stilts) along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

Me (Barb), my niece, her friend, and my sister
(also along on trip but not pictured were DD1 and DD2)

Here is a picture DD1 took of the Trabocco Punta Tufano from a distance (if you look closely you can see people sitting there, which is us drinking our Trebbiano wine).

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this wine on the menu. Drinking it brought back the wonderful memory of that lovely afternoon in Rocca San Giovanni, Abruzzo, Italy.

The red wine was DD1’s choice, well actually that is not exactly true. She allowed our server to choose for her because she couldn’t decide which to order since there were so very many to choose from. She told him that she liked full-bodied red wines, with her current favorite red wine being a Malbec. So he chose for her the Capite, which is a full-bodied red wine blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Cab Franc.

So I was about to ask for the check when my daughters informed me that they had never before had cannoli. Although I was a bit skeptical of this, I went ahead and allowed them to order this for us to share…

Now I’m not a huge fan of cannoli, but I actually really enjoyed the couple of small bites that I got of this. My DDs quickly polished off the rest of it.

So our overall rating for this meal was: Very Good

Now in looking through old pictures from our past trips to Disney World for use in some of my other reviews, I found this picture.

DD1 at Alfredo’s – March 2006

Hmm…that looks very much like cannoli on my daughter’s plate, doesn’t it???

So anyway, we went into Tutto Gusto intending to order only wine and some meat and cheese. We ended up sharing a 3-course meal and spending more than $75 (with tip)! And that was after the Tables in Wonderland 20% discount, which thank goodness they accept. So Tutto Gusto is rather expensive, but I have a feeling that that won’t stop me from returning there next trip for a light lunch of that delicious pasta and a glass of Trebbiano wine.